Michigan Native American tribes are increasingly withholding casino revenue-share payments from the state, arguing that Michigan’s expansion of gambling has undermined the exclusivity they were promised under their gaming compacts.

Payments to the Michigan Strategic Fund (MSF), which helps finance the Michigan Economic Development Corp. (MEDC), fell 71% from $52.8 million in 2022 to $15.4 million in 2025, according to Michigan Gaming Control Board figures.

The decline could accelerate this year after the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, operator of the Four Winds casinos, joined the growing list of tribes withholding payments, Crain’s Detroit Business reported Monday (September 28).

The Pokagon Band shared $11.7 million with the state in 2025. Meanwhile, the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi, which operates FireKeepers Casino Hotel, stopped payments in February after contributing $18.5 million the previous year.

Gun Lake Tribe, operator of Gun Lake Casino Resort, began withholding payments in 2025, while the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians stopped in 2023. Other Michigan tribes ceased making payments years earlier.

Under Michigan’s tribal-state gaming compacts, tribes agreed to share a percentage of revenue from slots and other electronic casino games in return for varying degrees of protection from competing gambling.

But the gambling landscape has changed dramatically since many of those agreements were negotiated.

The tribes believe Michigan has eroded their exclusivity through the continued expansion of gambling. Points of contention include the Michigan Lottery’s introduction of online games in 2014, the legalization of online casinos and sports betting in 2019, horse racing expansion, and, more recently, prediction markets.